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The “hole” family

These cement pipes are stacked at the back of my neighbours’ property and I have always wanted to photograph my dogs in them, so today I did!

You can see Mr. Woo believes himself to be at the very top of the family totem pole.

Whereas TWooie is busy resenting his place at the very bottom (there is no nepotism in our family; Wootie did not promote the TWoo).

Piper and Tweed are a bonded pair (and/or Piper wouldn’t get in a pipe by herself and/or leave her soccer ball).

And the cheese stands alone.

The alternate title for this post was “bUrrrrr” Because Woo is full of them.

Another week at work is done. The days are long, because the commute is something awful! It feels like everyone in the sticks is going the same place I am, every day. But its worth it, because the job is really fun! Yesterday I got to go on some ride-alongs with one of our Animal Welfare Officers to see what it is they do all day (besides criticize my painfully slow grasp of our complicated computer program). One of the calls was to investigate a possible injured bird at a nearby off leash park. We walked down the path and then suddenly this little fledgling pigeon came running around the corner “peep peep peeping” and ran, literally, straight into my hands, and then cuddled up to my chest. Baby pigeons are supposed to be shy, but this one wasn’t!! This is not him, but he looked exactly like this:

Poor TWooie. The past two weeks I have been bringing the dogs with me to work, where they hang out in their crates in the van. I thought this was preferable to Race being crated for 11 or 12 hours a day at home without a pee break while I worked/commuted. But TWooie does not like being at the shelter at all – perhaps the memory of living in one is a little too recent, because he won’t even get out of the van to pee when I take them out on my lunch break. Poor little guy. Also, one of the Welfare Officers thinks that TWoo gave him the stink eye once, and is evil. I can’t imagine how anyone could think TWooie is evil!

(heh heh heh)

I mean, it’s not as though he is The Great Horned Race:

Mr. Woo, otoh, *is* evil. Here he is cruelly imitating Piper:

One ear up, one ear down. Poor Piper – I wonder if her ear will ever stand up again?

After a week of wearing pantyhose on her head (to keep her ear flat to her head: there are blood vessels very close to the surface of the ear, and if she shook her head with those stitches in, she could have developed a hematoma on her ear, so it had to be immobilized) she’s starting to heal up nicely. It still looks pretty ugly though:

One more week and the stitches come out, so she can go back to agility class. Last night Tweed took her spot, and Dexter took Tweed’s spot. For a total spaz, he is doing REALLY REALLY well.

Our biggest challenge at the moment is his love of doing ALL THE EQUIPMENT ALL THE TIME. He’ll take the teeter over and over and over again if I don’t watch him, or he’ll just go run his own course. He absolutely loves the contact obstacles, and he loves praise, so every time we learn something new he wants to go do it a bunch of times in a row, or else he wants to get through it as fast as he can so he can go take a contact obstacle. He’s so funny to run with! The Sadist just loves him to pieces, and thinks he is so sweet. Obviously, The Sadist does not read my blog.

A while back I mentioned that I was kind of concerned about this Tweed-Dexter thing they’ve been doing on walks, but after some observation, I have come the conclusion that they both just really enjoy this game. I holler “THIS WAY” and Tweed takes off after Dex, who runs like the wind but not *quite* fast enough to outpace Tweed. Tweed goes in for the strike, and Dex throws himself on the ground and snaps his jaws at Tweed. I was worried they were working themselves into an actual brawl, but on the few occasions where Tweed has made contact with Dex, Dex yelps and Tweed covers him in smooches. Nobody ever seems to get angry, just Mad Teethy™ so I’m going to let them continue to play.

It keeps Tweed young, and they both seem to enjoy themselves.

I think.

Tomorrow Race goes to his new home, just in time for my next foster dog to arrive. I have to say, I really wanted a break after Race as I feel like I’ve had back to back fosters forever, and I wanted to concentrate on TWoo. But nobody else seems to be able to take in a dog right now, so I have a 10 month old male coming to stay for a while.

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I love baby pigeons! They are so sweet. Once at an apartment complex I lived in, a couple of baaaaad boys (home from school and bored on summer vaca) took a couple out of the nest and were playing very rough with them in the parking lot. I stormed down there, rescued the pigeons, and put them back in their nest. I got pooped on for my troubles, but I think it was a token of their appreciation.

Piper’s ear looks awful but I will trust you if you say it’s getting better, because just looking to the photograph it would make you think it so much worse. No wonder you took her to the vet in such a rush. :( So sorry for her, just give her lots of hugs and cuddles from us.

Twoo might be thinking that every time you take him to the refuge you are going to leave him there, and that might be the reason he doesn’t want to come out of the crate. Quite likely he had a very bad experience when he was in the refuge and it’s painful and scary for him to go to a place like that even if you are just simply taken them with you to be with you and have a walk with them whilst you are there.

He might get over that fear after sometime but it might take him quite a good while. :(

Tweed looks really nice and he definitely enjoys those “games” with Dexter, :) He looks such a sweet dog always. :) Dexter, Woo and the rest also look very nice dogs, but Tweed always has a really sweet expression on him. It’s impossible not to fall in love with him. :)

Best of luck on your new job and best wishes, and lots of hugs for Piper. :)

do you guys use chameleon? I will never ever encounter a less intuitive piece of software for the rest of my life–however, that software can track any piece of information you want and make it into a magical report. I was like “F12” “F11” “F3”–wtf?

Your photos are just gorgeous, as are your dogginses. I have enjoyed your blog for a long time, and I think you are such a wonderful person for taking such good care of these sweet creatures, as well as taking in fosters. I always look forward to seeing and reading more from you and I wish you nothing but the best! P.S. I have a HUGE crush on Tweed, please give him a nose kiss for me!

Absolutely fantastic photos this post! I like seeing all the happy dogs. And Tweed and Dex look like they’ve achieved nirvana playing together.

It’s great that you’re loving your job! When I worked at the county shelter as an animal care tech I loved it. Even hosing out the dog runs was better than the virtual shit you can deal with in an office job in a big organization :). But the adoption counseling was the absolute best part. Now I kind of do the same things as an RN. Including cleaning up poop! But the patient and family education is my favorite part (see, there are parallels!)

I had a Catahoula Leopard, a female, that I adopted from the SPCA. Both eyes were that icy blue and I loved them, but the people at the shelter said that several others wouldn’t adopt her because she “looked evil” or “looked possessed” which seemed like the most silly nonsense. I would take her out and about, and sometimes people would declare themselves to be “freaked out” because of her eyes. Maybe that’s TWoo’s problem, too? :)

Great placement of the dogs in the pipes! And where else would Woo be but UP – in air or in pipes? Sorry for your awful commute and long days. Is there no neighbor who could let the dogs out – and get them back in – if you left them home? Wish I lived near you – I would be happy to be your dog walker just to get to meet the gang. And, as always, great pictures!

Cheers for you! I was going to work at one of the big shelters in my area. Where I got my two dogs in fact. I read the requirements for Animal Technician — “Must participate in euthanization of unadoptable animals.” Um, nope. Couldn’t do it, sorry.

I’m guessing things are set up very differently shelter to shelter though. And am glad you enjoy your work!

Love the pipe photos. But you did put the tallest dog in the smallest one. That was funny. :-)

Looks like Piper’s ear is healing nicely, FL, and I’m sure it will return to its usual stand-uppyness in no time. The shots of the Twoo in this entry are wonderful; that blue eye stands out so sharply against his fur, and I love the concrete pipe pictures. I’m always thrilled when I check the site and you’ve posted a new entry. Have a great week at work!